I, too feel that there is no one to help, there is nobody in our court. Our industry is ran like the rest of the country. Big money, and personal interest. Each man for themselves. We try to have voices, but those are only heard when you have lots money and you are able to make yourself heard. I know what it is to feel like no one is listening. My blog is my little tiny voice. It is all I got!

I appreciate that she shared this story with me. I wanted to share it with you.

Hi dairygoddess…I have a question. The dairies in our area are closing. Our friends are generational dairymen, they have lost their home and had a 3k head of cow dairy, now down to 80 cows. They have 34 people who are invested and stand to lose everything. the feed company has raised feed so high they cannot keep up. NOw they are in negotiations and the feed company are holding them over a barrel. Can nothing be done, are there no gov. bale out of a dairy? they sell their milk to Alta Dena who has been supportive but cannot feed the cows. What can we do, to get oats in those cows to produce? Help if you can. (I kept her name private)

This is sadly a story that is told by many dairy farms. We are too, struggling. These next 90 days are reported to be another terrible period for dairy farms. Not only dairies suffer but the companies that service them. There is NO bail out for us, none at all. We dairy men are controlled by people looking out for themselves.
Processors LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cheap milk. They pit dairy farmer against each other so that we can not create tools to help ourselves. They just know that at some point we will end up making too much milk again and drown ourselves and our industry.

California alone is at a terrible injustice. We receive less than anyone else in the nation. Why? I have asked myself this so many times. We ask for hearings through the California Department of Agriculture, yet they are denied. Don’t they see our dairy farms struggling? Yet the processors complain that they will lose. Processors have a make allowance, an allowance that we pay to help them make a profit.

What about us? We just want to receive enough to just feed our cows. Is that asking too much? Do we not deserve enough to make a profit too? We work and have the risk. We do not have any control of the price we are going to receive. We watch our milk get hauled off (we, the dairy farmer pays for that too). Imagine, we pay for the haul to the processor while they have all of the power to raise/lower prices. Yet, we do not see huge drops in the store for dairy products…hmmm interesting isn’t? The minute the milk price goes up for us you see that in the store real quick.

We do not even know how much we are going to get for that milk that we worked so hard to make until a month later.

They have the power to NOT process if they have too much. Of course they have contracts to take all of our milk. Look, though what happens when there is too much…price drops and we are in the RED yet again. We can not just close our doors when we are not making enough money. We have an obligation to our animals. They must be cared for and fed. They must be milked.

We all must work together. Contact you local officials. Scream and shout and start asking the questions.
Get involved in the co-op and industry groups. WE and us alone have to start speaking for ourselves and working for ourselves and NOT let those with their own interests at heart win.

You asked about bail outs…I don’t think any of us want anything for free. I know, I just want a level playing field. Sadly if we do not get this help the American people can rely on non-local and imported milk because of possible milk shortages if too many dairies can not survive. At best the low prices consumers pay for dairy products will be gone for ever. For many our LUCK would have given out.

Praying for us all. The pressure is enormous. We can go without, sacrifice, but our cows MUST be fed and taken care of. When we lose that availability it is heartbreaking.

12 Responses

I appreciate your post. As a dairy producer in Ohio, we are facing the same struggle. The price of cattle feed is outrageous. Why? Because 40% of the nations corn crop is producing ethanol which has caused the price of corn, and other feed, to triple over the last 3-4 years. As a result, may dairy and livestock farmers are suffering.

Sadly, the combination of falling milk prices and high feed costs are forcing many dairy producers out of business.

I know exactly how you feel. My family and I are from southwest Missouri, and we were forced to sell our herd of Brown Swiss and Holstein and part of our land. Feed just got too high, and it was not economically possible for my family to stay in business. It was the most hearbreaking experience to watch my cows being sold at auction. Thank you for this post. It is a definite eye-opener for others to see the struggles dairymen/women are going through.
God bless, and I wish you the best in the upcoming year!

The real problem is not milk price, the real problem are feed costs. Not long ago we could only dream of $14 milk. That used to be a great price, but with todays feed costs its as good as support. The real villian sadly is our own government. When they signed the Renewable Fuel Standards in 2006, little did we know they were signing an end to the Ca. Dairy indurstry as we new it. Our government is burning 40% of nation’s corn to keep up with the mandatory blend of ethanol imposed by the EPA. You can’t remove 40% of the corn supply without consequences. So corn prices are at record highs. Corn is king, and every other commodity is riding it’s coattails. Unfortunately anyone who has to eat and or feed an animal has to suffer. Food and manufacturing costs are skyrocketing. Americans are struggling to put food on the table, and record numbers are on food stamps and yet we still burn our food to make fuel. It is beyond comprehension. I belive that America will come to it’s senses someday and realize the mistake they have made, but unfortunately I don’t know if I will still be in business to see it.
As dairymen we have been robbed of our life savings, our equity, and our livelihoods. This will be the year of reckoning, as milk prices decline and feed costs continue to rise more and more dairymen will be forced out in unprecedented numbers. We have run out of money, equity, credit and time.

Dear Barbara,
You and all other dairy farmers are in our thoughts and prayers. After getting over the heartbreak of selling our cows, we are finally able to feel relief that we are no longer at the mercy of the milk processors and the feed costs. Todd is going back to work on Monday as a power lineman, which is what he did before dairying. Our financial problems will finally be over (although we still have huge loans to pay off). It is sickening to feel like it will never end for other dairy farms. We are grateful we didn’t lose our farm but are sad that we are just another statistic. Guess I should change my email address since we are no longer Windmill Farm Dairy. 😦 I hope you can hang in there and that things will start looking up. God bless you! Janice

Our dairy in TN has the same issues. We keep trying to be more efficient at everything in order to pay the feed bill. It seems like there is no relief in sight. Thank you for writing about this so non-dairyman can understand our plight better.

Why is it so hard to walk away? Why do I cry at the thought of selling my cows? I’ve come to realize that I do not cry for the business I have, after all it’s been hell. The last 5 years worrying about the extreme volitility in feed prices, milk prices, supply, demand and God forbid, equipment breakdowns, have taken it’s toll. Sleepness nights and stress beyond compare, not a business worth crying over, right? I guess what I would miss is the dairy business we once had, but that is long gone. So the thought of getting out doesn’t sound so bad. The thought of having some kind of control of our future, feels good, scary but good. As my husband said, “I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.” I said, “That’s because your getting the hell out of the tunnel!” I believe there is life after cows, I’ve been told this before. I guess I may find out. So say a prayer for me and I’ll continue to pray for those left behind. Liz G.

Dairymen,
Please wake up and realize you can never control feed costs, so you’ll have to control the milk price. The only way to do this is to control production! Dairymen are their worst enemy, when times are good we produce more milk to make more money, when times are bad we produce more milk to try and pay the bills, it’s never ending!

Why is it that Dairymen don’t want to be told how much milk they can produce, but seem to have no problem being told what they will be paid for it?

We have always been at the mercy of the market, no control of feed costs or milk price and we have paid dearly for it these last 4 years. It
is time to take control of production, isn’t better to produce a little less milk and get paid more for it so you can a least pay the bills. I don’t think the government is going to stop burning corn anytime soon, so cutting production is the only answer. Don’t wait for the creameries to help you, they are only looking out for themselves. Some have imposed bases, but the second they need milk the bases are off and here you go again. It’s time to take control of your product and your future, because was happening now is not working.

I couldn’t agree more! So true what you said ; “Why is it that Dairymen don’t want to be told how much milk they can produce, but seem to have no problem being told what they will be paid for it?” – Gotta share that one!